advice on transition shoes to minimalist for running marathons

For you that didn't know I am recovering from a bad runners knee and after more then 2,5 months of not running I slowly started running again 5km>8km>10km>16km>21km in a few weeks of time. I am trying to use new running techniques that seems to work pretty good in lowering the impacts on my knees.

So I am running on Asics Gel Fortitude 5 and am thinking about buying shoes better fit for my new running style. However I am wondering if I can use those minimalist shoes for long distance runs like 42km marathons? I would like some advice/opinions please!

I am limiting myself to the brands of shoes, since I want to buy and try them out at a good running store that has measuring and camera equipment. My list of brands are: http://www.starshoe.nl/doc/merken (brooks, saucony. new balance)

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Miles, I love my running store (Starshoe Zoetermeer) they have helped me with loads of issues with my shoes. I always have issues with blisters and weird pains. I have learned there are a lot of small changes you can make to a shoe so it runs better. I also like the support the store gives you. Yes it is definitely more expensive, and maybe those Green Silence will still come some day. But I am transitioning to a new running technique so I have to be a bit careful with everything. I am a pusher and often try to exercise if my life depends on it, so with the wrong technique/materials this leads to injuries :D

One of my previous shoes was totally worn out and this definitely was a factor in my knee injuries.

I did a really nice 8.4km interval training this evening with my new Saucony Mirage. I don't think I ever had a shoe that run that good directly out of the box :) No blisters! I run a total of 21km today :) That makes a second day this week I did that :D (I am having a runners high)

Nice information. I had this with one of the shoes I got about one year back. Thankfully they helped out and the end result was good, sadly it took a few months of tuning. I bet it all comes down to experience and basic shoe knowledge. I almost order all things like you describe, so I am guessing this will include shoes somewhere in the future.

So far the Saucony Mirage are doing great, they are light and give me support. My pain in my right feet is almost gone and my knee pains are getting less. I can slowly push them more during interval trainings. I did started to feel pains in my right hip, so that ain't good.

I am using the Mirage for my short runs and interval trainings and the Asics Gel Fortitude 5 for longer distance runs. However I have not run >18km yet since I bought the Saucony Mirage (gave up on the marathon that was yesterday).

I am trying to incorporate the things I learned at my Posetech running clinic, witch is harder that it looks. I seem to push myself of the ground instead of just pulling the feet/leg up with the hamstrings.

This pull part seems so weird to me, especially during interval runs and sprints, for me the easiest way is to really push hard and fast to make speed, but with posetech this ain’t right and one should make speed by leaning/falling over, so I am still learning and adapting. The whole puss/pull part currently seems to take more energy to have a bit of speed but this is probably because I am still doing it wrong and am not used to the high cadence and pulling.

Hi Byron, maybe I answered this already. I am not running on my Gel Fortitude 5 they are not ideal for front striking. I bought them before going more minimalistic. I bought a pair of Saucony Mirage shoes for my transitioning and have been running on them since. I am thinking about buying a second set of more minimalistic shoes, because it seems smart to switch shoes a bit to prevent injury by over training some smaller muscles.

See my blog for some of my latest running times. I am doing mixed trainings (bootcamps, mountain biking, running) during the week but I'm still having muscle craps and bad sleep cycles, so my recovery ain't optimal but enough to almost be able to do something intensive and fun every day. I am still figuring out how to improve this without doing less sports :D

I bought a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers last year. My first run in them was 2 miles. The next day I had no pain at all. In fact, I had no soreness that I usually had in regular shoes, even flat ones. I ran 6 miles in them that day. No pain. It did take a little while for the toe-shoes to adjust to my feet (some places were a bit too tight).

I used to run track and XC, and inevitably had pain from "overuse." Well, ever since I started running "barefoot" I have had no recurring pain. I was born with very flat feet (they put casts on my feet when I was born to correct them, but they didn't work). I have strengthened my feet this way, so that now I have arches that I didn't have before! No more knee pain, rarely shin splints. It is nicer to run on dirt and grass, but I usually run on asphalt, and still no pain.

I recommend Vibrams, and starting with a short run to see how you feel. The longest I've run in them is 10 miles.

It has taken a while for me to adjust to Vibrams (about 12 months of mixing up shoes), but I find the runs I do in them now I have a lower HR and a slighlty quicker pace. i.e. over 10km I am about 5 seconds per km and 3 beats per minute lower. This has gone on over 4 weeks, same runs same time of the week. I still chop and change shoes as I find I am still not strong enough in the feet to run more than about 35km a week in vibrams. I do another 45km a week in Innov8's. Maybe my feet are strong enough and I am too heavy still ;)

I see I made the same mistake as you, wrong technics. I get pain below the right knee at the outside.The pain is gone in 1 or 2 days. First I thought the shoes are wrong. But kow I see the technics is wrong.The strange thing is the left knee was hurt by a car accident, but that one is fine no problem.

Was it easy for you to change the technics?

Since I am 811 my speed goes up and the distance grows. I the past I was happy to make 5 Km at the moment I around the 12 km, but the pain comes after 8 km. I started yesterday with the new technic. With only 1 Km first. But it's not easy ha ha.

Sounds like a classic runners knee, make sure to transition slowly, your calf muscles will be sore for a few weeks :) check out the video's and other URL's. Make sure your shoes support mid foot landing, instead of heel striking.

My knees don't hurt any more, I do have to be careful, my technique is still not right, especially in sprints I tent to lose form and can hurt my hips.

My biggest problem is slow recovery, muscle pains and cramps. I do not recover fast enough to do the things I want to do :) So I tend to overtrain....

I have these shoes bought them a year ago I think. I always have a fast recovery in the pain. Mostly after 2 days the pain is completly gone. But I know I can't go on the old way, the pain is a warning. This evening when the temperature has dropped a little I will try again a 4 km. See what the pain is doing.